New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-07-17
KEATS.
NAME NOT WRIT IN WATER.

serIss is very judicaly written by Sidney Colvin.
While all who desire TO know the poet intimately
will still have to 20 to the Life and Letters by
Lord Houghton no better critical estimate OF his
positon will De found than the present. Volume
affords. 1t is the honest work of appreciative
and impartial scholar, whose admiration for the
excclencies OF his subject does not interfere with
the candid indication of bis shortcomings. in the
nature of the case little new information could DO
expected in the biographical part of the work.
Keats lived as tho French say, en- Plcn air. There
was no mystery abont any stage OF his brief career
lie was gregarious, be had many friends, OF whom
a considerable number were themselves men OF
reputation. TO loved free and full converse with
his friends Iu company with Leigh Hunt, Hay
den. Severn Brown or Cowden Clarke. he wonld
open his mind and hold high discourse on the
topics which attracted him. There was indeed, a
vein OF morbid feeling in him: implanted perhaps
in his ystem with tho germs OF the hereditary dis
case which cut short his promising career. Or 1t
may have been but the diverse side of the poetic
,diosynerasy the nalr Of that emotional temperar
ment whose zouith was marked by successful sx-
preston. The poet TO soar high. must In traction
sink deep. He will not, nay, he cannot. stoop on
carbon; but there will be times when his deepest
insight into nature, his most passionate sspira-
tiops toward tue IDEAL will seem to bring him only
mocsery, ard his most luminous visions appear as
theairic illusion.
Keats was born poet The development Of tho
faculty in him began early. He did not, indeed,
aIisp in numbers" but the poems of his Adde'S
canoe ars characterized by one conclusive feature
Crude, initiative, clumsy. redundant, conventional
they often ara In short, the professional fault
GrJer gan catalogue their defects at formidable
,enyth Bat when all Is set down that can be In
accusation. there remains this enc redeemng fact
In .lrlV
immature, but ripe beauties; that together with
MANY weak and prosaic lines we find hero and
there verses which Milton or Shakespeare might
have Acknowledged with just pride. That is dis
tinctye of the early manner OF John Keats, and It
shows his rauk upon Parnassua In those early
experiments, however, he was clogged ana nam
pered. first by Spenser then by Leigh Hunt The
frat did him no small. service in stimulating his
IMAGINATION bu, in giving him taste for redun-
dant gares the authorof the "fasry Queen" delayed
tha young poets progress led him into some errors.
and interfered with the natural expression OF that
marvel Gus perception OF natural beauty which was
his greatest gilt IL il sald OF Keats that he had
no lyric power, but this dictum may Justly be
executed to- Ii Is true that he seldom exhibited
that narrative faculty which confines the lyrics Of
Scott 40 accurately to the lines of general interest
and tempers his digresslons with such judgment
that they seldom interfere with the steady march
of incident or the dramatic purpose lie Is fond of,
indeed. he seems hardly abe to refrain from, dis
cursive CON plcations so reduplicated that the
reader no reads only for the general effect Is well
nigh certain 70 find The entanglement perpiexing
or even wearisone. Here again, however We are
di.posed 10 think that the Spenserian training In
1uenced him unduly. For his manner is at such
times the m amer Of the Faery Queen. exhibiting
n perfect riot of tho Imagination tendency 10 ny
from image to image, from legend TO legend,
from allescry TO allegory until tho thread OF the
poem seems lost almost to the poet himself. but
he who reads Keats must bring his own key TO the
treasure-house. lie that seeks only the concrete
will be disappointed. lie that looks for clsar-cut
description will be puzzled But he that pursues
his way in the spirit ola traveller through I'M
known woodland regions, who brings no formal
den ands and ex pectatlons but is content to enjoy
each fresh view, each embowered pool. each
aower-frnzed brook, each verdant avenue as "
opens before his advancing feet will hnd no lack OF
charm and re- ward, but on the contrary so prodiRh
a feast a. few poets can tender.
The Ioyo Of nature which, Notwithstanding his
strong attraction for sensuous ideals must be re-
garded as the dominant note or his genius, mas
expression continually in delicate and sympathetic
touches which manifest spirtualized power OF OBJ
seryation No poet of tho century save Tennyson
ba, this characteristic so strongly marked as
Keats 1t is at the bottom Of what has been called
his Hellenisn, bot. and We are glad that Mr.. Col
vim emphasizes the fact Keats had really not much
of the Greek in him beyond his lore OF beauty and
his seusitiveness to II under all forms There was
in him warmth. q sensuousness. far more suggest
i've of Orientalism than OF Heenisun, and the
diffusensss which too often enonmberod and
weakened his rerses had in it surely nothng
Greek. Proportion Is OF the essence OF Heenism,
and proportion seemed almost unknown to Keats
What of tho Greek spirit found echo In MIN took
form in the graceful wildness Of Pans unculturcd
tributaries He was at home in the rhythm of a
Baccbanal song IN the lifting chorus Of fauns aud
hamadryads, in tho wood-notes wild" OF Mo-
nads and Satyrs OF the Greek restraint. lucidity
and compactness he had scarce anything.
Yet what he would have attained to- had he lived,
can never be guessed. Even before his dropped
from the enfeebled hand, change had passed over
his mind which detracted from tho charms of his
latest verses. Once and again there flashed out
the splendid perfection of thought aud form which
attested his genius, bat decay had begun Its work
upon the vehicle of his expression. and he had
fallen of perceptby In mis- work before his frierds
realized that he was doomsi The old vulgar
legend ABOUT the elect of The Qaarteriys attack
ut on hi N as factor in his death has been long
enough corrected, and yet no doubt there are still
many for whom Byron slippantnnesih Ion Juan
carry authoritative weight Keats was certainl,
crnely hurt by the brutality of The Quarterly
Reriee and for short time he thought that he
would publish more. But he was not tho infirm
creature tho old tradition made him out, and few
DAYS restored him his balance. and with 1t tho
manly resolve to 60 on in what he now knewto be
his vocation. 1t was the waiking-tour IN Scotland
that broaght into activity the latent seeds of con-
sumption. But for that undue strain upon bis sys-
TEN he might have lived many years longer. As
to tho passion which was formerly held to have
fastened his deccase there Is really nothing to sup
rort that hypothesis He was doubtless deeply In
love with the young lady and she was in many
ways united to reciprocate his sentiments Not